1900 Archives - INDIAN MEMORY PROJECT

A 100 years ago, she stepped into a world no widow had dared to

Chennagiri Family Photograph. Tumkur, District Karnataka. Circa 1901

Chennagiri family photograph. Tumkur, District Karnataka. Circa 1901 Image and Narrative contributed by Laxmi Murthy, Bengaluru This picture is thought to have been taken in Tumkur, State of Mysore, immediately after the marriage of my great grand parents Chennagiri Amba Bai, 12 years old (standing top right) with Sreenivasa Rao, then 18 (middle row, sitting right most), with Amba Bai's paternal family, the Chennagiris. I must thank my aunt Prabhamani Rao for all the help in identifying the people of my ancestral family found in this image. Born in 1889 into an orthodox Brahmin family in the erstwhile Mysore State (now in Karnataka), she was widowed at the age of 24 with three children. Sreenivasa Rao, Ambi’s husband was in the Police. He was also a wrestler and a champion swimmer. He died suddenly in 1913, caught in a whirlpool while swimming in Kempambudi Lake (now a sewerage collection tank) in Bangalore. Amba Bai whom we fondly called Ambi, triumphed over her tragic destiny by empowering herself with education. She defied conservative society to educate herself through college, become economically independent, and went on to become the principal of Vani Vilas Girls School in Bangalore. Nothing short of a saga of grit and determination, Ambi's story serves as an inspiration to women who face oppression till today. In her determination to break away from the shackles of social customs, which heaped on a widow the most inhuman treatment, she had the support of her enlightened father, C Krishna Rao, fondly called Rayaru, and his colleagues. With their encouragement she managed to step into a world where no widow had dared to tread. Ambi's father Rayaru (middle row, third from left) was the head of the…

The first girl student of St. Xaviers to become an Honorary Magistrate

My mother, Kamini Agaskar, grandmother Kamala Vijaykar, me, Mrudula Joshi and in my lap my daughter, Anupamaa Joshi, Bombay, Maharashtra. Circa 1970

My mother, Kamini Agaskar, grandmother Kamala Vijaykar, me, Mrudula Joshi and in my lap my daughter, Anupamaa Joshi, Bombay, Maharashtra. Circa 1970 Image and Narrative contributed by Mrudula Prabhuram Joshi, Mumbai Kamala Vijayakar, my grandmother (sitting, center) was born in 1890 in a well-to-do Pathare Prabhu family in Bombay. Pathare Prabhus are the original residents of the Bombay Islands along with the Agaris, the Bhandaris and the Kolis since 700 years. They are known to be a small, close-knit, and a 100 % literate community. Kamala was a bright student of the Alexandra Girls' School. She passed her Matriculation exam in 1910 and joined St. Xavier's College for higher education the same year. She was ''the first Hindu girl student'' of this esteemed college. She excelled in higher studies and was preparing for the First Year Arts examination when she got engaged to Mr. Narayan Vijaykar, who was an artist but non-matriculate. According to the prevalent norms, the wife could never be more educated than the husband, so she had to give up college education, start family life, raising children and fulfilling the duties of a good housewife. Settled in Malad, a distant suburb in Bombay, she began taking a keen interest in the Local District Board activities and the emancipation of women around her. She was a fluent and forceful speaker in English, and was appointed as the Honorary Magistrate at Malad. A lady Magistrate was a major novelty in those days and people would throng the courts when she delivered her judgments. When she left her home to go to the courts, people would stand on both sides of the road just ''to see '' how a…

Six generations of a British Family in India.

(Left) My Great Great Grandparents Edwin Ebenezer Scott (1850-1931) & Emily Good Andre (1862-1946), Bangalore, 1915. (Right) My Great grandparents, Algernon Edwin Scott & Desiree Leferve with my Grandfather, Bert Scott as a two or three year old boy. Cannanore, Karnataka. 1919 Image and Narrative contributed by Jason Scott Tilley, Birmingham UK These are two photographs from my grandfather Bert Scott's family photographic archive. The photograph on the left, of my Great Great Grandparents Edwin and Emily Scott was taken on Christmas day in 1925 at 3, Campbell road, Richmond Town, Bangalore, our family's house which was one of the old British Bungalows and has sadly like many of the rest, been demolished. On the old ground now stands St Philomenas hospital, right in the very heart of Bangalore. On the right, are my great grandparents Algernon Edwin Scott and Desiree Leferve with my Grandfather, Bert Scott as a two or three year old boy, the image was taken in 1919 in Cannanore, Karnataka. (now Kannur and in the state of Kerala) My family came to India in 1798 when James Scott Savory joined the East India Company as a writer of the Records of state. He was the second assistant under the Collector of Krisnagearry (Krishnagiri). Edwin Ebenezer (left image) is his great great grandson. From the church death records at St. Marks Cathedral in Bangalore it states that Edwin Ebenezer was the Assistant commisioner of Salt in South India. Bert Scott, (little boy on the right) was my Grandfather, and he was born in Bangalore in 1915. He went to Bishop Cottons school before he joined the Times of India in 1936 as a press photographer. Son of Algernon Edwin Scott and…

The baby girl lived to be 100 years old

Shanta Bhandarkar as a baby with her English Mother Louisa Bishop, and father Dr Vasudev Sukhtankar (with turban) and her uncle. Bombay, Maharashtra. 1910

Shanta Bhandarkar as a baby, with her English Mother Louisa Bishop, and father Dr Vasudev Sukhtankar (with turban) and her uncle. Bombay, Bombay Presidency (now Maharashtra) 1910 Image and Narrative contributed by Usha Bhandarkar Shanta Bhandarkar, my Mother in Law, turned 100 on February 25, 2010. On the occasion of her birthday our family gifted her an album with a collection of these old photographs, one of which is this as a baby. Shanta Bhandarkar doesn't have very good short term memory, but her long term memory is sharp. She remembers details like her mother's Christmas Pudding and the cakes that they used to bake. She studied at Sommerville, Oxford , UK and has travelled the world extensively.

Fresh emigrants to Bombay

My great-grandfather Tavadappa Talwar with his wife Laxmibai Talwar. Bombay, Maharashtra. Circa 1900's

My great-grandparents Tavadappa Talwar and Laxmibai Talwar. Bombay, Bombay Presidency, (now Maharashtra) Circa 1900 Image and Narrative Contributed by Manorath Palan, Mumbai My great-grand parents Tavadappa Talwar and Laxmibai Talwar migrated to Bombay from Mangalore, Karnataka in the early 1900's. Cultures like the Marathas were unheard of for a native of Mangalore, yet my great-grandparents adopted the native Maharashtrian attire and culture without any compulsion or threat from the locals, as opposed to the present situation in India. This picture was taken weeks into their moving to Bombay, sometime in the early 1900s.

All translations are machine generated, hence they are not 100% accurate.